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The group led by Gass considered what other issues such a newly formed group might investigate. One was whether MIT could benefit from expanding the current open-access policy to include graduate students, postdocs and research scientists — and to expand what is being shared to include not only journal articles, but also data and educational works. The group also suggested that MIT might make it easier for faculty members to understand what federally funded research they are required to make accessible, and how to do so. The group recommended that MIT consider offering greater financial support for faculty members faced with publication fees charged by open-access online journals. It also raised the possibility of MIT partnering with the MIT Press to host an open-access journal at MIT and recommended that MIT give thought to advocating more forcefully for open access, in particular for the rights of authors and for the creation of new publication models: The group suggested that this might be achieved through concerted outreach to professional societies, commercial publishers, and the federal government. Finally, the group noted that MIT might consider examining its assessments of the quality of open-access journals, in so far as those assessments bear on MIT’s tenure-and–promotion processes. The suggestions and recommendations made by the group led by Gass are being submitted to the Faculty Policy Committee for consideration in its pending review of MIT’s open-access policy. “The question posed by the Abelson Report regarding open access was both good and timely,” Gass says. “It helps give energy to an effort that we have long known we will make this year, which is to keep MIT at the leading edge of progress on making access to scholarly publication as open as possible. I was glad that the group I led was given the chance to help shape discussions that will help us move forward with purpose.” Broad questions Reif charged Kaiser and Hall with convening members of the MIT community to discuss the broadest questions raised by the Abelson Report. Kaiser and Hall have convened a meeting of faculty and a meeting of graduate students; in the coming weeks they will convene meetings for undergraduates and staff. In the meetings convened to date, they introduced and invited dialogue around all of the eight questions posed by the Abelson Report, with a focus on these particular questions: Should an MIT education address the personal ethics and legal obligations of technology empowerment? What are MIT’s obligations to members of our extended community? How can MIT draw lessons for its hacker culture from this experience? In both the faculty and graduate-student meetings, attendance was low. Of MIT’s 1,000 faculty members, about 22 attended the faculty meeting, while 15 of MIT’s 6,500 graduate students attended the meeting convened for them. In the faculty meeting, participants had a wide-ranging discussion that touched on MIT’s mission, opportunities for community learning and policy concerns. The views were divergent enough that no sense of a “right” takeaway emerged, but there was a shared feeling that ongoing discussion of these issues is important, and that MIT should be a leader in the relevant academic areas. Individual meeting participants made a variety of suggestions. One such suggestion was that MIT ought to make a strong effort to teach students where the ethical and legal boundaries are on campus, and what consequences might be in store for given actions. Meeting participants also shared more general ideas: One notion shared at the meeting was that MIT takes great pride in its hacker culture in the abstract, but that it is hard to know what this means in practice. Various individual viewpoints about specific changes were expressed by participants, including the recommendation that MIT increase its internal expertise around computer crime and policy issues; that MIT strengthen mechanisms for issue-specific consultations by the administration; that MIT limit data-sharing with law enforcement; and that MIT strengthen support for open access. In the meeting of graduate students, some attendees expressed a desire for MIT to be a leader in broad issues around technology. Some individuals argued that MIT ought to have made a public statement about the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act; others argued that it ought to have made a public statement characterizing Swartz’s access to the MIT computer network as authorized. Some participants suggested that MIT was too conservative in its handling of the Swartz case and that it ought to have honored the spirit of risk taking and experimentation that they felt Swartz’s actions represented. Other participants raised concerns about the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and whether students at MIT are at risk of violating it; some participants expressed a desire for clarity from the administration about where it stood with this law and whether it would help protect students who might become targets of criminal prosecution. An idea expressed by some participants was that members of the MIT community would benefit from guidance from the MIT administration on ethics and legal risks around computer hacking. It was suggested that the Office of the General Counsel should consider the idea of providing regular briefings for interested community members about the legal issues around hacking, and that online resources also be made available. Once they have convened the undergraduate and staff meetings, Kaiser and Hall will report to Academic Council, which will then decide if further action ought to be taken. “These community meetings are important,” Hall says. “They allow people who care deeply about these issues to express their views confidentially, and they allow faculty leadership to hear and weigh thoughts from our diverse community. At the conclusion of our series of forums, we expect to have a good picture of what the community would most like to see addressed going forward. Once we have the full picture, we will share it with the president and the leadership of MIT; that wisdom will help MIT ensure that its policies reflect its values.” Reif expressed gratitude to those who addressed these questions, and he thanked Academic Council for acting on the recommendations put before it. “The work here is not finished, but I am pleased that we have concrete results,” he says. “We now have a lasting mechanism in place to consider the critical issue of how we collect, provide, and retain electronic records, and MIT will soon have an online data privacy policy. I am confident that we will also put important new energy behind our longstanding commitment to open access to scholarly research. I look forward to further input from Chris Kaiser and Steve Hall on the community’s take on the broadest questions posed by the Abelson Report: The issues around hacking, personal ethics, and the extended MIT community are important and merit the ongoing discussion taking place on our campus. MIT’s leadership will continue to listen for, and act on, good ideas